Fifty years ago today, the Medicare and Medicaid programs were established with the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson, transforming the health care system. Much has changed since then, and today the programs cover one-third of Americans. "It's hard to imagine a world without Medicare and Medicaid," HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said at a ceremony Wednesday. The New York Times (free-article access for SmartBrief readers) (07/29)

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